Out of the Frying Pan and Into?
by Lucillia
Summary: Aziraphale and Crowley flee to another universe to escape an apocalypse, and end up finding themselves in the middle of a heavenly civil war.
1. Unexpected Arrivals

Sam and Dean were doing research while Castiel occupied himself with the television when the bright light appeared out of nowhere.

Castiel, who had been about to ask why the Pizza Guy had been striking the Baby Sitter, found something else entirely occupying his attention. Namely the foreign/familiar Grace he could feel within the light. If he wasn't mistaken, he would have a serious fight on his hands in moments as both Aziraphale and Zophiel were firmly in Raphiel's camp.

The light vanished, revealing two figures who failed to immediately attack as Castiel had been expecting.

"Angel, I agree that going to another universe to escape Adam's "My wife is cheating on me, so the world deserves to burn" party was a good idea, but here? This place is a dump. We're in a rundown shack in the middle of..." The well dressed one with sunglasses said before apparently noticing Castiel.

"Is that...?" The one with sunglasses - whom he had tentatively identified as Zophiel despite his odd vessel and almost completely tainted Grace - asked.

"Yes." Aziraphale said as if he wished the answer were otherwise.

"And it's watching Porn?" Zophiel half asked, half yelled, sounding completely amazed.

"Yes." Aziraphale said with a look of supreme disgust.

"I'm liking this place better already." Zophiel said with a rather uncharacteristically amused look on his face before he sat down on the couch next to Castiel and extended his hand as if he wanted to shake hands as the humans often did by way of greeting.

"The name's Crowley." Zophiel said when Castiel took his hand.

It was at that point all hell broke loose.

&*&%&*&

Crowley and Aziraphale stood panting by the side of an isolated road in the middle of nowhere, thanking their lucky stars that Castiel hadn't followed them. Castiel, or at least the Castiel they knew was rather dim witted, but could be extremely persistent when he put his mind to something.

Something Castiel said shortly before they had run for it away from the shockingly powerful angel and his equally angry looking human companions who were holding weapons that looked lethal suddenly dawned on Aziraphale.

"Crowley?" Aziraphale asked.

"Yes?" Crowley replied.

"Why did Castiel call you Zophiel?" Aziriphale asked.

" 'Cause we're in a different universe I suspect." Crowley replied.

"Why would that make him think you were Zophiel though? Zophiel's..." Aziraphale said, unable to find quite the word to describe the angel in question.

"Remember when they were handing out the names?" Crowley said.

"Yes. Michael gave me mine. I was, and still am, rather proud of it." Aziraphale said with a slightly nostalgic sigh, remembering the good days back before Lucifer turned into a ... well, as the humans sometimes put it... whiny emo bitch.

"Gabriel was handing out our lot's." Crowley said. "He was going to name me Zophiel, but I said something smart to him and he named me "Crawly thing, like one of those" and gave my name to the next guy in line. He was pointing to one of those wicked fast slinky lizards with the stubby legs at the time he named me. Funny, you never see them anymore. I wonder what happened to them."

"Those were snakes Crowley." Aziraphale said.

"Oh." Crowley said.

"I thought you would have remembered, considering the fact that you had a habit of tearing around Eden disguised as one." Aziraphale commented.

"Well...Wanna help me beat the crap out of that jerk who's been going around using _**MY**_ name?" Crowley asked.


	2. Aziraphale, meet Aziraphale

Aziraphale almost growled as Zophiel approached. Had they not been on the same side...It was a very good thing that they had not been placed in the same garrison when they had been created. Had they been in the same garrison, the semi-legendary fights between Balthazar and Pagiel would have looked like minor spats. As it was, there was more than enough fighting going on, they didn't need allies starting in on each-other.

Personally, Aziraphale couldn't really care less about the apocalypse, or the humans that the other side was trying to protect. Sure, he'd once had his moment of pity for the humans, but that's all it had been, a moment. The reason he had joined Raphael had been because of Michael. Had Castiel not rebelled and aided the Winchesters, Michael, he who had named him, would not be in the Pit. This was personal for him.

Aziraphale almost protectively clutched the sword at his side. How could he have once considered giving it away, even momentarily? Sure, the humans had looked absolutely pathetic when they were cast from the garden into the cold world beyond. Sure, the flames that flickered along the edges of the blade would have provided warmth for the almost helpless creatures until one of the Watchers could get out to them and teach them how to make fire. But, that hadn't been his problem. So what if the humans had nearly died of hypothermia that first night? So what if Eve lost the baby? There were more afterwards, alot more. It was not his problem, and giving his sword away even temporarily would not have solved it.

Zophiel reached his side and looked like he was about to say something snarky when the new angel appeared. While that in and of itself wasn't unusual, who the angel was was. Finding yourself looking at yourself without the aid of a mirror is quite a disconcerting experience, especially when there were noticeable differences that made your reflection seem...alien. It was him, but well, different aspects of his personality were more prominent. The new Aziraphale looked softer around the edges somehow, gentler in a way he couldn't quite describe. There was still firm resolve and an iron will, but it was...muted.

"Great, now there's two of them." Zophiel muttered as soon as he got over his initial shock.

"Um, hello, well since I'm going to be living here from now on, I thought it would be a good idea to check in..." the other Aziraphale said in a slightly different dialect of Enochian.

Zophiel was the first to move forward to greet the new arrival, probably to get the first insult in now that it was going to be two on one.

"Welcome to Raphael's army." Zophiel said. "You'd better shape up quick before you're sent into the fight."

"Raphael's army? Fighting?" the new Aziraphale asked. "What's going on?"

"There's a war on is what's going on." Zophiel said sarcastically.

"War? Why?" the new Aziraphale asked.

"To put the apocalypse back on track, like it's supposed to be. Castiel rebelled and derailed it, and one of his pet humans dragged Michael into the pit." Zophiel replied.

"I see..." the New Aziraphale said, as he slowly backed away from Zophiel. "Well, um, yeah, I'll just..."

The New Aziraphale started moving away from his spot near the center of the camp in an almost nonchalant manner. Aziraphale decided to follow him, wondering what was wrong. He knew himself well enough to know something was up. It was while he was more carefully scrutinizing the New Aziraphale that he realized something. The spot where he himself usually kept his sword was empty. In fact, it didn't look like he was carrying his sword at all.

"Hey." he said, getting the New Aziraphale's attention.

"Yes?" the New Aziraphale asked.

"Where's your sword?" he asked.

"I um...lost it." the New Aziraphale replied nervously.

It was in that moment he knew. He grabbed his sword from his side and prepared to attack. The New Aziraphale dropped all pretenses, and vanished. The sword sliced through empty air where the other angel had been half an instant earlier.

"Hey, what was that all about? We need all the angels we can get around here, and you attacking them isn't going to help things." Zophiel said, looking ready to spring on him and start pulling feathers, finally having had the excuse he needed.

"Not that one." he replied. "Not him. We definitely don't need him. He is going to side with Castiel."

"Damn." Zophiel said. "I don't know why, but I actually liked the other you."

&!&!&

Aziraphale found himself panting once more even though it wasn't necessary. It was one of those human gestures he'd picked up over the millenia. When in human form, he seemed to do alot of those kinds of things. After getting his bearings, he vanished again, only to reappear at Crowley's side. Why Crowley was several hours in the past, he didn't know.

When he found Crowley, he was in some sort of prison, quietly sneaking up on a very evil and slimy feeling man who was torturing a...a...shapeshifter?

"Crowley dear, I think this will have to wait until later." Aziraphale said quietly.

"Why?" Crowley hissed back.

"Because we've got a very serious problem." he replied.

It was at that point that the evil man turned on the baby monitor that was on the table next to a bunch of torture implements and made his threat.

"Oh Hell no!" Crowley yelled, charging from his hiding spot.

It wasn't a well known fact, but Crowley liked children, and not in the "as a snack" way most demons did. What he often did to those he caught hurting children was well...unique to say the least.


	3. Crowley and God's Spy

Sam, Dean, and Meg stared in amazement. Crowley was hooked into some sort of device that held him over a vat of what looked like water and slowly lowered him into it with a loud hiss a millimeter at at time. If anyone tried to help him out of it, as Samuel Campbell was attempting to do, it would quickly yank the demon back up and restart the process. Dean was beginning to suspect that his grandfather was only pretending to help so the demon would continually be dunked. There was no way in hell the man was that stupid.

Castiel was staring at the vat of (possibly) water itself and frowning.

"What is it Cas?" Dean asked after he was finally able to tear his eyes away from the sight.

"An angel blessed this water." Castiel replied.

"And that is significant how...?" Sam asked.

"I don't know any angels that would do this. Raphael's forces would have simply killed Crowley if they had been here, as would mine. This isn't Balthazar's style either." Castiel replied.

"What about those two yahoos you chased off about a half second before my and Sam's grandfather showed up?" Dean asked.

"It is possible." Castiel replied. "And as they are an unknown variable, potentially disturbing."

"Unknown variable?" Sam asked.

"They are of another universe. While they are Aziraphale and Zophiel, they aren't the ones that I know. Their grace is the same, but... At some point during their existence, they acted differently and from there they became different. While I have a good idea as to how the Aziraphale and Zophiel of this universe will behave in a given situation...They would not have come up with this." Castiel replied gesturing at the torture device Crowley was hooked into.

"So, is that good or bad Cas?" Dean asked.

"I do not know, and that is what disturbs me." Castiel replied.

&!&!&!&

Zophiel wasn't entirely sure why he had decided to find the New Aziraphale. Possibly because he wanted to see for himself whether or not this Aziraphale would truly be as disloyal as Aziraphale believed he would be. Having been Father's spy amongst Lucifer's ranks at one point, he was sure that he would be able to follow the New Aziraphale unnoticed. As he began to employ skills he had not needed for a very long time, he was forcibly reminded of those dark days when he himself had nearly fallen. He had picked himself up though, and even carried Michael's standard into battle once.

Zophiel found the New Aziraphale standing next to a human conveyance having an argument with...him? At least Zophiel thought it was himself, it was hard to tell under all that tainted grace and the slithery nature which reminded him of the jewel bright serpents he had so admired before the Fall that seemed to be a magnification of his ability to slip out of tight spots almost miraculously unscathed, but it almost felt as if he were looking in a mirror while wearing a costume of some sort. He could even see a small portion of his own untainted grace under all of that...difference.

The Argument the New Aziraphale was having with his counterpart was different from the ones he had with Aziraphale when he encountered him. There was the bickering, but...there was none of the usual venom in it. That, and they didn't look like they were going to go for the wings like he and Aziraphale almost always did when they met. He still remembered the feather pulling fight they had had when they were fledglings. Neither side had forgiven or forgotten it.

"...can't believe you don't know how to change diapers, considering that you were the godfather to the first human child." his counterpart was saying.

"They didn't have diapers back then. Eve just sorta held the kids away when they started to well...go, and hoped that she didn't get any more on her. I haven't really bothered with babies since then, they destroy books." the New Aziraphale replied.

"What did they use when Eve couldn't hold it away?" his counterpart asked, honestly curious.

"Leaves." the New Aziraphale replied.

"Whatever, hand it here." his counterpart said, sounding unhappy.

"Crowley...?" the New Aziraphale said. Apparently that one word carried some sort of unasked question, because his counterpart replied.

"I was Nanny Ashtoreth remember, and what self-respecting wife of a cultural attache changes diapers?" his counterpart said as he took the infant from Aziraphale with an expression of disgust.

Zophiel found himself wondering exactly why the New Aziraphale and his counterpart were in the middle of nowhere tending to the half-breed offspring of a shapeshifter when they should be destroying it and the others that were strapped into seats in the vehicle. And what was that about the New Aziraphale being godfather to the first human child? What had Aziraphale done, or not done? What secret did Aziraphale hide that would make him think that one who is himself would be disloyal, would rebel?

"So angel, what was it you wanted to tell me earlier?" his counterpart said once the baby was changed and back in its little seat.

"I may have made a mistake when picking the direction in which we jumped." the New Aziraphale said almost sheepishly.

His counterpart froze, and then turned to face the New Aziraphale sliding his tinted glasses down so he could look the other angel in the eye with a pair of venomous yellow eyes that sent shivers down Zophiel's spine as several clues he'd been ignoring finally clicked into place. Somehow he knew that those weren't snakeskin boots on his counterpart's feet.

"When I went for a place that was "Like home", I ended up picking a place that was a little too much like home." the New Aziraphale said.

"Too much like home how?" his fallen counterpart asked.

"Um, apparently Castiel derailed the apocalypse, and there is a war in Heaven between the faction that wants to get it back on track and those that don't." the New Aziraphale replied.

"Why hasn't Michael, Gabriel, or Raphael sorted it out?" his fallen counterpart asked.

"The humans threw Michael into the Pit." the New Aziraphale replied. "I don't know about Gabriel, but the angels I encountered claimed that Raphael was leading the army that wants to continue with the Apocalypse."

His fallen counterpart fell back in shock, landing on his ass.

"The humans WHAT?" his fallen counterpart yelled.

"Threw Michael into the Pit." the New Aziraphale replied, sounding distressed.

His fallen counterpart stood up abruptly.

"Watch the munchkins until I get back." his counterpart said.

"Why? Where are you going?" the New Aziraphale asked sounding worried.

"This is something I have got to see for myself. The only reason I can think of why fa-...He would allow Michael to be thrown into the pit is...effing Ineffability." his fallen counterpart said before he vanished.

Zophiel considered appearing there and then and dealing with this mess, but if it came down to a fight to the death between himself and Aziraphale, he wasn't entirely certain he would win. Add in the differences between this Aziraphale who freely associates with one of the Fallen, and the outcome becomes even more uncertain. Temporarily retreating would be the best option for now. At least he now knew why he had liked the New Aziraphale when he met him, it had been because the New Aziraphale didn't radiate an immense dislike of him that was almost palpable. In fact, the New Aziraphale had actually seemed to like him, in fact it felt as if the New Aziraphale had considered him a friend.

What the heck did his counterpart mean by Ineffability?


	4. The Book

"Son of a bitch! If it was a fucking snake, it would have bitten me already." Dean yelled the instant after Castiel vanished back into the prison to deal with the captive monsters.

Samuel had already long since left after a heated argument over Castiel's burning of Crowley's bones. When the fact that Samuel was going to sell them out to Crowley had entered the argument, it had nearly devolved into a fistfight. As it was, Samuel Campbell was now a persona non grata to the Winchesters.

"What is it Dean?" Sam asked as he got into the passengers side of the Impala.

"I just remembered why I used to find Crowley's name funny. It's part of the reason I trusted him to help us out with the Apocalypse." Dean replied as he slid into the driver's seat.

"Why's that?" Sam asked.

"Hey Cas! I hope you're not gone yet, this is important." Dean said in response.

Castiel appeared next to the car.

"I just figured out why those two angels might have done what they did to Crowley." Dean said.

"Why?" Castiel asked.

"He was giving Crowley a bad name." Dean replied. "I don't think I can explain it fully, but I think you'll get any answers you need if you go to the nearest Barnes & Nobles and ask for a copy of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett."

"Here's ten dollars for the book." Dean said as he fished out his wallet and handed Castiel a ten dollar bill.

"Thanks." Castiel said an instant before he vanished.

"What was that all about, and how will buying a novel answer any questions?" Sam asked.

"Think about it Sam. What were the two angels talking about when they appeared, and what name did that angel use when he introduced himself?" Dean asked.

"Coming to another universe, and Crowley, why?" Sam replied.

"I swear, if you were any slower you'd be going backwards. An angel named Aziraphale, and a Demon named Crowley, where have you heard it before?" Dean asked.

Sam face-palmed and muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

&!&!&

Castiel had finished the book a minute after he had left the store. The reason he had taken so long was because of the pop culture references and human turns of phrase that he had trouble with. He got the gist of the story though. In another universe Zophiel - who had somehow gotten himself named Crawly of all things - who had become one of the Fallen had joined forces with Aziraphale to prevent the apocalypse much the same as he Sam and Dean had. Why Aziraphale though? Zophiel and Aziraphale hated each-other's guts.

Odd, in this book, it didn't seem as if Zophiel and Aziraphale disliked each-other, in fact they seemed to be on rather friendly terms, even after Zophiel had fallen. He would almost be willing to say that they were best friends.

Hearing a call from Heaven, Castiel hastily stuffed the book into the pocket of his vessel's trenchcoat and joined the battle.

&!&!&

After the battle had shifted into another direction one of the Watchers that had remained in Heaven when a large number of his brothers had fallen to Earth to marry picked up the object that had fallen from the pocket of Castiel's vessel in the instant before Castiel sent the vessel on to wherever it was he stashed it when he departed it. He felt that if Castiel had chosen to keep this item, it must have been of the greatest significance and therefore it could aid his side in this war.

The Watcher had joined Raphael's army because he believed that the apocalypse should happen, as it had been ordained by Heaven. It was time for the world to end and the souls of mankind to go to either their eternal reward or their eternal punishment. He did care for the humans and their plight, and believed that this would be what was best for them. He had watched mankind for so long that he could not feel indifferent towards them, even if he hadn't been the one sent that day when he had gone to teach Adam how to make fire. He remembered that strange painful emotion he had felt on that day, when he had found a shivering Adam cradling a crying Eve.

The Watcher turned the object he'd retrieved over in his hands as he studied it, completely puzzled. Why would Castiel keep a paperback novel?

He opened the novel, and after flipping past the quotes from the critics, the also written by, the title page and publishing information, and the forward by the authors he began to read...

&!&!&

Zophiel watched in surprise as the Watcher furiously launched himself at Aziraphale and did everything it could to hurt him. From the fact that the Watcher had gotten as far as feather pulling, he could tell that Aziraphale was beyond shocked. He could understand why.

What could cause the normally quiet Watcher who usually hung towards the edges of the camp with the other lesser angels to become this pissed off feather pulling fury? And, why target Aziraphale of all angels?

Zophiel decided to get to the bottom of this. There were already more than enough angels coming over to assist Aziraphale, so the Principality didn't need his assistance. He reached the spot of the camp the Watcher usually occupied when he wasn't in battle at the same time that the group of angels had managed to pull the Watcher off of Aziraphale. Where the Watcher usually sat was a book and a list.

The book was one that was obviously written by humans. The list however...

Zophiel scanned the list. It was the list of every human that existed in this universe, whether or not it survived to be born. At the top of the list, after Adam, Lilith, and Eve was...Female child (Adam, Eve) lost during early part of second trimester.

What did the book have to do with the list? What did they both have to do with why the Watcher attacked Aziraphale?

Zophiel decided to read the book to see if it held any of the answers to his questions...

He didn't get past the short section marked **In The Beginning**.

A second later, he too was being pulled off Aziraphale.

At least he now had his answer as to why the New Aziraphale had been named as the first human child's godfather in his own universe.


	5. Of Orange Soda and Lost Souls

Aziraphale gently rocked the wailing shapeshifter baby. It seemed that some things aren't forgotten after six millenia and the proper way to hold a baby apparently was one of them. As he looked down at the small girl, he was reminded of Cat. Adam and Eve had named the girl after the animal that had wandered by their cave on the day she was born. It was no wonder that her descendants tended to be almost as fascinated by the creatures as she was, even going so far as to worship them at various points. His mind wandered back to those times, and he briefly found himself wondering once again what the result would have been if Father hadn't realized the dangers of inbreeding and quickly created more humans. He probably didn't want to know.

He really hoped that Crowley got here soon, the baby he was holding was starting to set off the others and he couldn't hold them all in this form, and his grace would hurt them if he tried to hold them in his true form.

He had kept the children with him because, he honestly didn't know what else to do. If he were back home, he could have taken the children to Lower Tadfield and had Adam sort them out. Here, he couldn't take them to Adam, because Adam didn't exist here or if he did, he was shielded from him. He had no idea who the current Antichrist was and whether he was friendly or not, or even if he was alive (he strongly suspected that the answer might be no). He couldn't take the children to an orphanage because, they would cause an almighty ruckus the first time they changed shape. He briefly considered leaving them at a church, but swiftly decided otherwise. He knew what religious people often did to things that they thought weren't "Of God". Even the most openminded of priests would hesitate to call a shapeshifter one of God's creatures, no matter how small and innocent it was.

As the infant's cries died down, a black American muscle car pulled up and one of the windows rolled down. The man on the other side looked like he was about to say something when his expression shifted to surprise.

"Aziraphale?" the man said, sounding slightly stunned.

It was in that moment, Aziraphale realized exactly why the man looked so familiar. He had been one of the humans with Castiel. He'd threatened him with a shotgun if he remembered correctly. He had no reason to expect the man to be any friendlier now.

Aziraphale didn't respond, he simply sent the infant in his arms to the first safe place he could think of that he was reasonably certain would exist in this universe. The other infants quickly followed, and so too did he. When he arrived at St. James' Park, the babies were staring at a rather sleepy looking duck, and a couple of men who may or may not have been spies - considering the fact that this was a different universe - were staring speculatively at the babies.

Aziraphale did a quick head count. All of the babies were accounted for, and there was an extra shed skin surrounding one of them who now looked a little like Crowley. He wouldn't have put it past a foreign agent to try walking off with one of the baby shapeshifters tucked in his coat. He'd seen one - from Belgium if he remembered correctly - walk off with one of the park's numerous ducks before, and the babies were only a little larger than a duck and far more interesting.

One of the men looked down at the can he was holding thoughtfully, then up at Aziraphale who was keeping half an eye on him while making sure that none of the babies crawled into the pond. He looked back down at the can again, and shrugged before pulling out a rosary and starting a Latin prayer that wasn't a Hail Mary or an Our Father. Once he was finished with the prayer, he dipped the rosary into the can's opening. He then got up, walked up to Aziraphale, and splashed him with...Holy...Orange soda?

&!&!&!&

Crowley stared down into the Pit. Sure enough, both Michael and Lucifer were down there, as was something else, two somethings actually. Two somethings that Michael and Lucifer were playing with in the way a young sociopath well on his way to becoming a Serial Killer played with the small animals he caught. Peering more closely without touching the sigils and seals meant to keep an angel - fallen or otherwise - inside the Pit, he attempted to see exactly what Michael and Lucifer were playing with.

They were human souls. Poor sods, he'd hate to be them right now.

No wonder this universe's Michael was in the Pit. Whether or not his sin had been Pride, he was just a little too much like his brother for anybody's taste.

One of the souls shrieked in agony as Michael started playing a new game.

Crowley hated that sound. He hated hearing as the damned were tortured, but this, this was a hundred times worse... If he could just make it stop...

Crowley studied the seals. They were only meant to keep angels and those of angelic stock from getting through. Human souls definitely weren't of angelic stock.

How to get them though? He couldn't get in or out, and if he could, there was no way he could pry them from the hands of the two strongest Archangels in creation.

Crowley watched as Michael started scrunching the soul he was playing with into a ball and got an idea.

Conjuring the wastebasket with the miniature basketball hoop was a snap. Literally. Drawing on the sigils that would keep the souls inside until he figured out what to do with them was a little trickier, as was getting his creation into the pit and getting Michael and Lucifer to notice it. Notice it they did. They laughed as they chucked the souls inside.

He quickly vanished from hell, hoping nobody was alerted by Michael and Lucifer's shrieks of anger when their toys vanished. He honestly didn't want to know what the hell they had been playing with that mess of blood bones and entrails that was smeared across the floor of the Pit.

That little rescue seemed all too easy. He just hoped that it didn't mean trouble later on, and that he hadn't just rescued the worst of the worst humanity had to offer. What did someone have to do to deserve being chucked into the Pit with Lucifer?

When he arrived at the spot where he left Aziraphale, he found Aziraphale and the children missing, and the two men they had encountered when they had first arrived in this universe circling the van. The taller one spotted him while he was trying to think of where Aziraphale might have gone and why.

There was something seriously off about the taller one. It was almost as if...

Effing Ineffability.

"Is one of these yours?" he asked as he held out the wastebasket with the souls inside.


	6. Hunter's Mothers and Mixups

Aziraphale blinked. The man who had splashed him with the holy soda blinked as well. Aziraphale blinked again. So did the man.

"That was rather rude." Aziraphale said as he removed the sanctified carbonated beverage from his person.

The man responded to this statement by pulling out a silver knife and stabbing him with it twice before he pushed the rather uncivilized lout away.

"And, that was even ruder." Aziraphale said as he pulled the knife out of his chest and looked down in dismay at the hole in his rather nice houndstooth check jacket and the additional stain that had been made by the blood that had escaped from his stab wounds before said wounds had closed.

It was at that point that Crowley appeared. Aziraphale's Crowley, not the Crowley of that universe who was rather pissed off over being dunked in angel manufactured holy water, as his deal with Castiel was supposed to prevent such things.

"You're not going to believe this angel, but one of the guys we encountered when we first arrived in this hellhole was running around without his soul." Crowley said as he picked up one of the babies who had been making a break for it at a rapid crawl, intent on harassing the ducks.

"That's an odd thing to go without." Aziraphale commented as he repaired the holes in his jacket and removed the stains in much the same manner as he had done the soda.

It was at that point that the hunter who hadn't had any luck even fazing his opponent who had pretty much forgotten he was there after Crowley appeared decided to go for an easier target. Bad move. Crowley spotted the man's attempt at harming one of the babies he'd just rescued earlier, and turned him into something far more unpleasant and surprising than the thing he'd once turned a pursuing police car's engine into back in his old world. The other hunter, having seen what had happened to his partner who in his opinion was an idiot, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and that he should be elsewhere at the moment, preferably at his mother's bedside. He hadn't visited his poor old mother in the nursing home in quite a long time, and now would be as good a time as any to drop by...

&!&!&!&!&

Sam and Dean stared down into the wastebasket that had been handed to him by the demon from another world, who could technically be considered an angel who had sauntered vaguely downwards as the only fallen angel in hell - besides Michael - was Lucifer. All of the demons in their world were human in origin, as far as they knew. Contained within said wastebasket were a pair of bright lights which were presumably Sam and Adam's souls which had been rescued from The Pit.

"Do these look sick to you?" Sam, who had been shaking the wastebasket which still had one of those little basketball hoop things attached, asked as he studied the pair of souls which were contained within.

Dean could understand his brother's concern, as Castiel had hinted that Sam's soul wouldn't be all that intact if they ever got it back, and putting it back inside him could kill him or worse. The souls which were almost too bright to look at didn't look shredded or anything like that, but they did move rather sluggishly and seemed somewhat disoriented. Part of that could be because Sam had been shaking the can for about five minutes at this point sending the poor souls bouncing from one side of the can to the other.

"Yeah, they kinda do look a little unwell." Dean said as he studied the contents of the wastebasket. "We can have a better look at them when we get back to Bobby's. Until then, stop shaking the trash can, it's probably what's making them sick."

&!&!&!&

"I hope that that one guy is okay." Crowley said out of nowhere as he set a shapeshifter baby down on a conjured cot in a house that he and Aziraphale had sort of appropriated. He'd persuaded his long-time friend into doing this by telling him it wouldn't be wrong since they would be leaving the property in better condition than when they arrived.

"I tried to put those souls back together as best as I could, but they were kinda shredded. Lucifer and Michael had been playing with them for quite a while." Crowley said as he patted the little munchkin who had decided to look like a cross between him and the angel for some strange reason.

"I'm sure everything will work out eventually dear." Aziraphale said as he cleaned bits of skin from between another baby's toes.

&!&!&!&

"What the...?" the man groaned as he sat up in the ritual circle he was located in the middle of. "Where am I?"

"Relax Sammy, we're at Bobby's." a familiar voice said from behind him.

"Sammy?" the man asked. "Why're you calling me Sammy?"

"Adam?" the familiar voice asked.

That was his name. Why was the other man so uncertain that it was him?

"Oh, shit." the voice said.

At that point the world fully came into focus, and he looked down.

"Hey! This isn't my body!"


End file.
